


Veritas

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Home and Hollow [1]
Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings, First Kiss, First Time, Fix-It, Yelling For The Greater Good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 19:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8766718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: "He went kind of crazy without you, you know."
An alternate ending to ep. 3X10 (aka what should have happened after they got Abbie back from the other dimension).





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is insanely late. If no one ends up caring I'll take it down eventually.

Abbie stared into the twilight of her front yard, annoyed with herself for being out here instead of inside with the three people she’d missed more than anything during the months she’d been in the other dimension. It was just... she’d forgotten how intense it could be, being with them, and she needed a moment to pull herself together again. To tuck all the emotions back away where they belonged, and not break down and cry like an idiot because she was home.

She’d been in the desert for so long, desperate for water, and now she’d been dropped in the middle of the ocean. She just needed a moment to remember how to swim....

"He went kind of crazy without you, you know."

The sudden sound of her sister's voice pulled Abbie out of her reverie. "What?"

"Ichabod. He kind of lost it while he was looking for you."  Jenny held her gaze, voice deliberate and careful. "I just thought you should know that."

Abbie's chest clenched, but she pushed the feeling aside. Crane was her friend, and he got... intense about things. That's all it was. "You know how focused he gets." She looked back out into the fading light, trying hard not to see her partner's face. "It's not easy getting him to poke his head up out of his research when he's looking for something."

"Abbie." Jenny's voice was soft, but utterly serious. "He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't sleep. He raced after every lead he could find, no matter how dangerous or how much of a longshot it was, and he refused to stop long enough to plan or even wait for backup. It took both Joe and I watching him, and we still only barely managed to keep him functional."

Abbie squeezed her eyes shut. She'd lost her breath at some point, no matter how hard she tried to deny what her sister was saying. She'd known for a long time that Crane wasn't hers, not really. She was just... borrowing him for a little while. For the sake of the universe.

Jenny moved closer, lightly touching Abbie's shoulder. "I love you, Abbie. You know that. I wanted you back. But Ichabod... all he thought about was you. All he cared about was you."

Abbie felt her eyes fill. "Don't," she whispered.

Jenny's grip tightened. "Even his 'mission' didn't seem to matter," she continued, steel running beneath her still-quiet voice. "Joe and I had to handle any monsters that showed up - Ichabod didn't even start helping until he accidentally let one of them out trying to look for you and it scared some sense into him. Even then, we had to drag him into it - if it wasn't about you, it barely registered for—"

Finally, Abbie whirled on her. "I said stop," she snapped, not even her anger enough to hide the other emotions making her voice rough. She moved to another part of the porch, swiping a hand across wet cheeks. The pressure in her chest was almost painful, the way it had been when she'd first seen Crane's face again after those endless months stuck on the other side. She'd talked to him the entire time she was over there, and had wanted for so long to be able to just hold him. When the chance had finally presented itself, however, she'd realized she couldn't risk it. There'd be no more hiding what was in her heart, and she hadn't been ready for his kindness.

But she was having a hell of a time putting the feelings back in their box. And Jenny, damn her, wasn't helping. "Do you really want Crane hearing any of this?"

"I wouldn't mind, actually," Jenny snapped back, her expression defiant, "but Joe seems to think we should handle this more gently. So he's in there, keeping Ichabod distracted, while I'm out here trying to knock some sense into you."

"Now?" Abbie threw her hands up in the air. "I just came back from the dead! Can't you give me at least five minutes of peace?"

"No." Jenny just stared her down. "Because I've been watching you pull away since the second you didn't let yourself even hug Ichabod, and there is no way in hell I'm letting you run away from someone else you love because you're afraid."

Abbie just closed her eyes, taking the hit she knew she deserved. She let out a shaky breath. "How do you know it's not PTSD?" she managed finally, the anger in her voice vanished as if it had never been there. "I'm damn well entitled to some."

"Oh, I'm sure you have PTSD, too." Jenny's voice warmed. "But you'll deal with that by pretending it's not happening, then wake up with nightmares. Which, unless you want me to sleep over, will be Ichabod's problem to deal with."

Abbie opened her eyes to see Jenny smiling a little, a good deal of sympathy in her eyes. "Remind me to smack Joe for turning you into a romantic," she managed finally.

Jenny made a dismissive noise. "If this is your definition of a romantic, you've got even more issues then I thought." Then she grinned. “I’m pretty sure Ichabod will teach you.”

Abby scrubbed her hands over her face. “You keep forgetting the fact that he has a girlfriend.”

Now she flat-out laughed, a burst of sound that Abby suddenly realized she hadn’t heard in a very long time. “You mean he _had_ a girlfriend, before you disappeared and he completely forgot she existed. After he stood her up for the third time and refused to answer the phone, she left him a breakup letter that I had to read to him because he didn’t have time for it. He might actually feel guilty about it once he remembers, but at the time I think he was relieved.” Her expression softened at whatever she saw on Abbie’s face. “I told you,” she said gently. “You’re the only thing that mattered to him.”

Abbie opened her fingers, then closed them, trying to find something safe to say. “I don’t believe you,” she admitted finally, the words unsteady.

Jenny sighed, shaking her head. “If this is what it’s like dealing with me, I should be way the hell nicer to Joe.” She inclined her head toward the door. “Come on. I need another beer, and there’s no way I’m leaving you out here alone.”

“Don’t think I’m going in just because you’re telling me to,” Abbie said, moving ahead of her sister.

Jenny smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

000

Thankfully, Jenny didn’t bring it up again – if she’d done it in front of Crane, Abbie would have to slap both her _and_ Joe – and for the rest of the evening she mostly managed to push the thoughts aside. When Jenny and Joe left for the night, however, and Crane started cleaning up, Jenny’s words flooded back like she’d let down a gate.

_All he thought about was you. All he cared about was you._

She still didn’t know if she could believe it. She’d always been so certain that his head was hers, but his heart was otherwise claimed.

But... he deserved to know that she’d been focused on him, too. She knew for a fact that he’d reached for her – his astral journey proved that – and even if Jenny hadn’t been entirely right he deserved to know that she’d been reaching back. Reading between the lines of his Betsy Ross stories, she was pretty sure his old partner hadn’t done that.

She headed to the kitchen, leaning against the doorway and watching him bend over to wash the dishes in the sink. His shoulders seemed relaxed, and though she didn’t speak he turned to look at her and gave that small smile that always made her breath catch a little. “Before you ask, I did indeed forget about the dishwasher. I’m afraid I haven’t been here a great deal these last few months, and it was easier to revert to old habits.”

Her chest tightened. “Eating out a lot?”

He hesitated, turning back to the sink and busying his hands. “I spent... a great deal of time in the archives,” he said finally, voice just a shade too casual. “Several modern foods are quite portable, and I am familiar with sleeping either rough or at a desk.” He hesitated, as if about to turn and look back at her again, then focused all the more intently on the sink. His shoulders were tense now, a tight line all the way along. “Scholars have lived such for centuries. I am sure Cicero would have given a great deal for the wonder that is a peanut butter sandwich.”

Oh, she knew that evasion, the careful steps that made sure you always looked fine from the outside. It didn’t necessarily mean what Jenny thought it meant – no matter what she admitted to between her and Joe, the girl was in deep and sliding faster – but Abbie had the sudden realization that he was just as clueless about what was hiding behind her walls. They were both too good at protecting themselves.

Abbie let out a breath, far more terrified than she’d been battling her way out of the other dimension. She had to get the words out all at once, before her defensive reflexes stopped her. “I love you, Crane.”

He went so utterly still it was easy to imagine he wasn’t breathing, then he very carefully set the plate down in the sink. “As a compatriot?” he asked finally, the words so quiet she could barely hear him.

Crane, ever the gentleman, was giving her a way out. But Jenny had been right – she couldn’t take it. She swallowed. “As everything.”

He inhaled sharply, like he’d been hit, and when his hands gripped the edge of the sink she realized he was shaking a little. But he didn’t say anything, didn’t even turn around, and she couldn’t hold back her defensive reflexes any longer. “I didn’t say it because I expect anything more than I’m already getting from you, Crane.” She forced her voice to stay mostly steady, but she couldn’t stop her heart from beating too fast. “So you don’t have to feel guilty, or—“

Whatever else she’d been about to say died in her throat when Crane suddenly pushed away from the sink, crossed the distance between them, and dove down for a kiss that blanked out the rest of the world. Later, when she could think again, she would tease him about knowing how to use his tongue so well, but in that moment all that mattered was a rush of emotion and sensation that felt like everything she’d kept locked away in her own heart. She poured out everything she had to give him in equal measure, pulling him closer and holding on for dear life.

When they broke apart, it was only far enough apart to get some oxygen. “I am yours, leftenant,” he murmured, eyes wet and voice rough with emotion.”In every way.”

Abbie realized that she was trembling a little as well. She nearly hadn’t told him. She’d nearly let all of this slip through her fingers. “Enough that you’ll let me haul you upstairs so we can explore this in a little more detail?”

He searched her face, like he wanted be sure what she was asking, and it was such a Crane thing to do that she had to drag him down and kiss him again. When they broke apart, his eyes were alight. “I have always been a great believer in the value of exploration,” he breathed.

She grinned, suddenly fiercely happy as she tugged him toward the stairs. “You’ve turned me into quite a believer as well.”

000

_The dream had been perfect enough to be painful. Crane had found her, she’d fought her way free of the other dimension, and she was home surrounded by the people she loved. She’d risked opening her heart, Crane had miraculously handed his back to her, and she was right now falling asleep in his arms._

_But she didn’t fall asleep, not here, and the moment she blinked the hallucination disappeared as if it had never been. Abbie opened her eyes to bare, echoing stone and the painful realization that everything she’d hoped for was nothing more than the delusions of a woman barely holding onto sanity...._

Abbie opened her eyes with a gasp, relieved almost to the point of tears to see the darkness of her bedroom ceiling rather than the cave. She’d rolled away from Crane in the middle of the night, no longer used to having someone in bed with her, and he’d flung an arm back across her as if to remind her he was still there. She held onto it, focusing on the warmth and solidity of it as she repeated to herself over and over again that everything around her was real.

The arm shifted as Crane stirred next to her. “Nightmare?” he asked quietly.

She let out a breath, grateful for the sound of his voice. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“I have no desire to sleep through your distress.” He moved his arm to brush a strand of hair away from her face, shifting closer. “Do you wish to speak of it?”

Abbie turned so she could see his face, the gentle concern plain even in the low light. “No.” She laid her hand against his cheek. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

He gave her a soft kiss, emotion making his voice rough. “And I, leftenant,” he murmured, “am very glad you’re here.”

She snuggled closer to him, and he tightened his arms around her. And, for the rest of the night, they rested safely inside each other’s walls.  

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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